3 Red Light Fix (Xbox 360, by James Dean) - REVIEW

The Xbox 360 has been around for quite a while as of 2012 and any gamer has at least had one in their home for some period of time. I've had three of them over the years, the Pro, Elite and now the Wi-Fi enabled one with piles of accessories. Most people, myself included, look forward to having their game time and Xbox Live makes playing online or downloading games and movies very easy and actually enjoyable. 

Various models of Xbox 360 succumb to the dreaded "red ring of death" rendering it pretty much a large paperweight. This is an extremely frustrating experience, especially when it seems to pop up out of nowhere. There are numerous 3 red light fix systems around the Internet but this one in particular is well known due to the author, James Dean. This is the same guy who has put out fixes for most every system out there and he seems to know what he's doing. 
You can get the dreaded red ring of death for all sorts of reasons but this is typically a CPU or GPU failure or a problem with overheating. Let's take a look at James Dean's product, 3 Red Lights Fix and see what it contains, which is a lot more than just the 3 red lights.

Easy Fixes For:

Freeze Ups - This is one of the most irritating things you can have happen while playing a game, especially a RPG game. You do some quests for hours only to have all that vanish when your Xbox just freezes. There's nothing you can do but turn it off and back on and hope it works. This is often heat related and can be remedied by making sure your heat vents aren't blocked or elevating your console on something.

Graphics Distortion - I've never seen this happen on anything other than a PC but I've heard of it. This can be heat or GPU related and if you don't know how to fix it, it will eventually evolve to the point you can't use your Xbox 360 anymore.

2 Red Lights - It's not always 3. This product shows you how to make sure this never happens again. 

E74 Errors - If you've got one, you know what this is and usually will end with you throwing your console in the dumpster or selling it off for parts. It's a GPU/CPU error and can show up on new machines just as easily as older models.

3 Red Lights Fix - That's why you're reading this probably and it walks you through how to do this with 8 HD videos, a tutorial and a guide.

60-Day Money Back Guarantee - If you need it, you've got it. I don't really like this guarantee and I'll tell you why later in the article.

Things To Consider

When you use this system, you have to get into your Xbox 360, take things apart and possibly use tools you may not have or have access to. This is the biggest issue with any console fixes and 3 Red Lights Fix is no different. If you open your console, you void the warranty and the manufacturer can tell should you try to send it back later anyway if things go wrong. You also usually can't return it if it's fairly new. This makes the $30 money-back guarantee little more than an "I'm sorry you broke your Xbox, here's $30". If you just paid $200 for it, this is not a good deal at all is it?

User Testimonials

Curt (Comment on Gamespot)

"OMG AWESOME I got it to work. I had to do a soft hardware reset and after a few seconds of glitching and turning on and off it worked. $25 is way cheaper than the $90 or so people charge for repairs..."

Freshmeat (Squidoo Commenter)

"Try this guy. I payed 29.95 with a 60 day money-back guarantee. It takes about 3 hours to fix and he goes through, step by step with you until the end. Any of these problems he can fix. If he cant, well you'll get your money back..."

The Bottom Line

If you plan to use this on a newer Xbox that you've just bought from a retailer, be smart and just take it back. If you have the receipt they'll usually swap you for a new one. Sure you'll lose save games but that's a small price to pay. If you have an old one or you got one from a pawn shop, this is probably worth a try. It's only $29 and is usually sale for less.

You could probably make some cash buying broken Xbox 360s and use the 3 Red Lights Fix to repair them and sell them off at a profit. 

I gave it a moderate score due to it being risky but still having some promise.